Page 34 of Descent of Angels

“How many times did he beat you?” she asked. “Answer me honestly. I’ll know if you are lying.”

“I don’t know,” I told her, looking at the ground.

“More than a few?” she questioned gently.

“A few,” I mumbled.

My father spat on the ground. “She needed discipline.”

Anger surged inside me, and I curled my fingers, digging my nails into my palms. Adrenaline flowed through my veins, and with the strength it brought, I moved toward the man who had caused me so much misery and pain.

“I was twelve.” I looked up at him, letting my hatred for him show on my face for the first time in my life.

“What?” Remiel snarled, but I wasn’t looking at him—I was staring my father straight in the eye.

“I was twelve when you started to beat me. It wasn’t discipline. You are a bully.” He glared at me, and this time I glared back. “You beat me for not speaking loud enough for you to hear, or for speaking too loudly. You beat me for listening to your radio, you beat me for not making my bed properly or burning toast. When I was fifteen and you made me leave school, I talked back to you, and I couldn’t walk for three days because you hurt me so badly.”

“Keep going,” he sneered. “Your precious fuckboys will be gone by morning, and then no matter what you say now, it’ll be back to you and me, my girl, and you’ll pay. I’ll make what I did tonight seem like child’s play.”

Eleth started forward, but I put out a hand and gestured for him to stay. They couldn’t protect me anymore. This was my fight. I moved forward one step at a time. My father gave me a strange look, and I knew he was thrown off guard by my demeanor. As I advanced, he began to step backwards toward the shadows of the trees.

“I am done being afraid of you. I am done with your bullshit. My whole life, you told me I was worthless, that no one could ever love me, and I believed you, but I was wrong. You were wrong. My mother loved me. She risked her own life by coming to get me the night you killed her. These men love me. They loved me so much they gave up their chance for freedom to save my life. No matter what happens tonight, I will be gone by tomorrow morning, and if you try to stop me, I will kill you myself.”

He eyed me warily, and I realized he was trying to work out his options. Outrage at my rebellion won though, as I knew it would. “You’ll end up in the fucking pigpen with your slut of a mother, that’s where you’ll be tomorrow.”

I stepped forward, bringing me within arm’s reach of him. I didn’t know whether I meant to hit him or spit in his face, but before I could decide, something brushed past my leg, and I looked down to see Jess whip past me. She got between us and started barking at him.

“Control your fucking dog, or I’ll smash its brains out,” my father growled. “Back off, the pair of you.” I wasn’t really listening. Behind him, drawn by Jess’s barking, a couple of dark shapes moved slowly out of the trees. I could have warned him. I could have told him to run. I didn’t think he’d have had time anyway, but I probably should have alerted him. I didn’t. I just backed away. Jess stopped barking, her hackles rising instead, and she growled as the creatures moved closer.

“Dylan...” I heard Ade’s voice, but I ignored him, keeping my eyes glued to the man who had tormented me for the last eleven years. He grinned as I backed away.

“That’s right, Dylan. Always the good girl, aren’t you?”

“Go to Hell,” I said.

He laughed coldly. “No fucking balls in the end. No guts—”

With one swipe, his insides spilled out into the ground as razor-sharp claws tore across his belly. He froze and looked down at his entrails lying on the grass, and for one horrible moment, I wanted to laugh. As he looked up, another swipe tore through his face, knocking him to the ground, and I turned away as the creatures fell on him. I watched, emotionless, as the angel warriors rushed past me, but they got there too late. The hellions were taken out quickly, but I ignored them as I walked back to Sariel.

I stood in front of her. I was battered and broken, covered in my own blood and dirt. She was immaculate, her silver eyes shining in the shadows. “You can’t have them,” I told her calmly.

“Adamachus swore on your life that they would surrender to me peacefully,” she replied. “You have no say in the matter.”

“I do. They belong to me, and you can’t have them.” I felt the guys move so they stood behind me. I turned to look at them. Jophiel was awake, but pale as the moon, and Remiel held him up. Eleth laid his hand on my shoulder.

“Dylan,” he murmured softly.

“No,” I said, turning to him. “She can’t have you. You’re mine. All of you.”

“Dylan, I am so sorry for what you’ve been through,” Sariel began. “But these men, these angels, they belong to God, not to you. High Commander Gabriel has sent me to—”

“Oh, I know all about Gabriel. I’m amazed you can stand to follow his orders, to be honest. But you’re wrong. They are mine. They told me so and swore to be mine the night they fell.”

Her eyes widened, and she looked at them in turn, her gaze finally falling on Ade. Her lips pressed together, and I could see the anger she was fighting to control.

“You tricked me.”

“I didn’t,” he replied.

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